Switzerland’s Chiara Tamburlini and Spain’s Blanca Fernandez both fired opening rounds of 67 (-6) to top the leaderboard after day one of the 2025 KPMG Women’s Irish Open.
It was a day of varying conditions on the golf course with periods of sun, wind and some rain showers at Carton House.
Three-time LET winner Tamburlini began her day from the 10th tee and rolled in birdies on holes 11, 13, 15, 16 and 18 to make the turn in five-under on the O’Meara Course.
Tamburlini made another birdie on the first, dropped her only shot of the day on the third and finished in style with a birdie on nine to seal a round of six-under-par.
“I’m very happy with how I played today,” said Tamburlini, who finished fourth in this tournament in 2024. “I had an incredible group playing with Lauren [Walsh] and Madelene [Sagström].
“On the front nine, Madelene and I had a bit of a birdie feast, so we just kept going. It was really cool and really motivating to have birdies all around. I played really solidly on the front, it was still decent on the back nine, but I didn’t make much more. I’m really happy with the game.
“The wind really picked up on the last five or six holes, it’s probably going to be difficult this afternoon. I think the forecast is the same tomorrow, so it will be the same for everybody by the time the weekend comes.
“I feel like I’ve had a couple of good finishes on the LET and a really good finish at the U.S. Open, which was very encouraging. I’m excited about the next couple of events and some of the majors coming up in Europe. This is a really good test, there’s a lot of LPGA girls here this week, so it’s cool to measure my game against all of them already.”
LET rookie Fernandez had one dropped shot at the third before rolling in back-to-back birdies on the fourth and fifth holes.
The 24-year-old made further birdies on holes eight, 10, 13, 17 and 18 to join Tamburlini at the top of the leaderboard.
“It was a good day,” said the Spaniard. “Me and my caddie were talking through all of the shots, I was relaxed, and I just kept hitting the ball and sticking to the plan. Honestly, I didn’t feel this round coming.
“You never know in golf; you keep working and you never know what’s going to happen. I made some changes last week and I also called my caddie to see if he could come, and I tried to rest. I think all of those little things helped to have a good round because the game is there, I just need to have the head.
“In the pro-am, I was told to get my mind out of everything, and we had a very fun round. Sometimes you get super tense, but it was easy and just kept laughing, so I think that helps also.”
Six players share third place with English trio Hannah Screen, Mimi Rhodes, and amateur Lottie Woad alongside Swedish pair Lisa Pettersson and Madelene Sagström, and Alexandra Swayne of the U.S. Virgin Islands all on five-under-par.
It was a bogey-free round for England’s Screen as she rolled in birdies on the first, fourth, sixth, 12th and 13th holes in Ireland.
Similarly, LET winner Pettersson also had a flawless day out on the golf course making her birdies at the first, fourth, eighth, 17th and 18th holes.
Solheim Cup star Sagström, who was playing alongside Tamburlini, had an excellent start to her round with five birdies in six holes on her front nine.
It was an up-and-down back nine as she rolled in another birdie on the first before an eagle on the fourth, a triple bogey on the fifth, a birdie on the sixth and a bogey on the eighth.
Sagström explained: “I was telling my caddie Shane [Codd] that I had a massive brain fart on five and I don’t know what happened. I was on a roll and then I was fighting for my life. I’m really pleased with the day.
“My coach is here, and we have worked really hard, and I maybe put myself in situations that maybe I wouldn’t put myself in before like hitting driver off nine, shots that I’m normally not comfortable with. I’m just trying to challenge my game a little bit both for the future and for playing well this week.
“I’m pleased with the day overall, hit the driver nicely and it hit a lot of great iron shots. I didn’t hole many putts because the birdies I made were quite close. It was a good day.”
Three-time LET winner Rhodes also went bogey-free on day one in Ireland making birdies on the third, fourth, sixth, eighth, and 12th holes to also be in T2.
“It was really solid golf out there,” said Rhodes. “The first nine was really slow, I wasn’t holing many putts and they weren’t dropping, but I loosened up a bit on the back nine. I holed a few good putts, a few 20-footers and that gave me a really good boost until the end. I was just consistent out there.
“I love the course, it’s great. I love playing on a parkland, you’ve got to be pretty straight off the tee and once you’ve done that, it’s pretty short into the greens. You can go at the pins which I enjoy. If you’re aggressive, you can go really low.
“There’s a few LPGA players out here and I think it’s a good test to compare our games to theirs and not get it into our head but just play our own game out there and see where it gets us on the leaderboard.”
One shot further back in a share of ninth place on four-under-par are 11 players including Irish amateur Emma Fleming.
There were two hole-in-ones in the first round with USA’s Brianna Navarrosa and Sweden’s Sofie Bringner acing the second and 16th holes, respectively.
Round two begins at 8 am (local time) on Friday and there will be a cut to the top-60 professionals and ties at the end of the day.
Follow all the action throughout on our socials – @LETgolf on Instagram, TikTok and X, and Ladies European Tour on YouTube and Facebook – #KPMGWIO.
